St
Polycarp

Commemorated February 23

St. Polycarp was Bishop of Smyrna and one of the
Apostolic Fathers. He was a student of the Apostle John the
Theologian and was personally acquainted with 'others who
had seen the Lord'. St. Polycarp served as a link between
the Apostolic age and Orthodoxy of the latter part of the
second century.

St. Polycarp was a new kind of Christian for his time. He
was not a Jew and was not familiar with Old Testament
Scriptures; instead he immersed himself in the Apostolic
tradition. This is evident by his writings that weaved
together phrases from a wide range of Apostolic
writings.

Here is a quote from his letter to the Philippians, dated
ca. 135 AD, that seems appropriate for the Easter period,
"Everyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is an Antichrist; whoever does not confess the
testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whoever
perverts the sayings of the Lord for his own desires, and
says that there is neither resurrection nor judgement, such
a one is the first-born of Satan. Let us therefore, leave
the foolishness and the false-teaching of the crowd, and
turn back to the word which was delivered to us in the
beginningÉ Let us, then, continue unceasingly in our
hope and in the Pledge of our justification, that is, in
Christ Jesus, who bore our sins in His own body on the tree,
who did no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth; yet, for
our sakes, that we might live in Him, He endured
everything".

On the day of his death and once he finished his prayers
in which he remembered everyone he met, St. Polycarp was
seated on a donkey and led into the city (presumably Rome),
where he was asked to slander Christ. St. Polycarp replied
"Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has never done
me wrong. How, then, should I be able to blaspheme my King
who has saved me?" This indicates that, even if he was
baptised as a child, he must have been born around 69
AD.

St. Polycarp was then beaten to death and his body, being
confiscated by a centurion, was burnt. His bones were later
collected and hidden by Christians. It is traditionally
accepted that he was martyred on Saturday 23 February 155
AD.